Oscars Hotel Group owners Bill and Mario Gravanis pay $50m for Oakwood Hotel & Apartments

A Sydney family who earlier this year snapped up a Whitsunday Islands resort have now increased their Queensland presence with the purchase of a high profile Brisbane hotel.

Oakwood Hotel & Apartments in Brisbane City.

Cashed-up southern hotel investors are “following the sun” and buying Queensland properties despite in many cases being unable to inspect them as Victoria and NSW struggles with the coronavirus pandemic.

Sydney-based Bill and Mario Gravanis, who are behind Oscars Hotel Group, have struck a $50m deal to buy the Oakwood Hotel & Apartments in Brisbane City from Singapore real estate giant Mapletree Investments.

The acquisition of the 11-storey building — on Ivory Lane at the entrance to the Story Bridge — is perfectly placed for the Brisbane 2032 Olympics. It follows their $20m purchase of Long Island resort in the Whitsundays in May with plans to redevelop the resort.

The Oakwood deal was struck by CBRE Hotels Wayne Bunz

Oakwood Hotel & Apartments in Brisbane City.

Also a Sydney-based hotel investment group has just taken the plunge “sight unseen” and will spend about $4m to acquire the Loea Boutique Hotel on the Sunshine Coast in Maroochydore amid ongoing interest in coastal leisure markets underpinned by the drive market.

The CBRE Hotels’ Hayley Manvell said the sale campaign for the Maroochydore hotel yielded over 150 inquires. According to industry sources the transaction set a record price per key for the Sunshine Coast of almost $400,000.

The luxury boutique hotel has become insta-famous since being launched last year after an extensive makeover by British expat vendors Andrew and Lucy Pink.

In 2019 they paid $1m for the rundown Riverpark Maroochy Motel at 361 Bradman Ave and they transformed the 1376sq m freehold site into 10 luxurious suites, a magnesium swimming pool surrounded by a communal garden and seating area, a reception and cafe housed within a vintage, on-site van and chic cruiser bikes.

Ms Manvell said boutique lifestyle hotels were currently “flavour of the month” and the number of buyer inquiries generated for Loea demonstrated demand for smaller hotel assets in popular coastal markets.

“The fact that this hotel was purchased site unseen is a sign of the times amid Covid lock downs and border closures, with the speed of the sale demonstrating that this hasn’t dampened investor sentiment or interstate buying activity,” she said.

“Sydney and Melbourne have in the past been key investment destinations but now investors are following the sun and coming up to Brisbane, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast and Queensland in general because we’ve managed the pandemic really well.”

Some of the other hotel and resort deals this year struck by the CBRE Hotels team include:

● Ibis Styles Cairns to Moelis — $9m

● Rydges Reef Plaza Hotel Cairns (Benson Hotel) to Adam Adams — $10m

● Grand Chancellor Palm Cove to a Sydney-based hotel investment group — $11m

● Central Apartments Townsville to a Queensland based hotel Group — $10m

● Fantauzzo Hotel Brisbane to Crystalbrook — $67.25m

Ms Manvell said the tourism market was strongly supported by domestic tourism.

“Everyone wants to be here but they can’t get here,” she said.

“There is a lot of confidence that we know what we’re doing and our tourism market — especially the drive market — is strong.

“Hotels are generally doing well and Loea Boutique Hotel is trading its head off.”